Help! M505 ?

[Mossimo]

Guys

I’m thinking hard about purchasing a M505 here in Melbourne Aust.It is a discontinued line and reduced to nearly half price US$225 $450 Aust, List price($799)

I currently own a M100 which was on sale for US$40 ($80 Aust) and didn’t realise that I would be so addicted to it, for the last 5 days I’ve owned It I have already filled the 2mb memory.

So I am thinking about returning it and purchasing the M505.

1. Does adding secure digital Memory Card 64MB give me
additional space run all programs on?
Or does it only give additional storage room for files?

2. Reading reviews the only downfall is the brightness of the
screen. Is it that bad?

Thanks in advance for your help


Cheers

[BobG]

Hi,

I have had the M505 for a year and have had no trouble at all. The screen brightness is a matter of preference but I have no problem with it.

The memory cards will only provide you with more storage and it's a nice thing to have.

Good Luck,
Bob

[Mossimo]

Are you shaw you can't install applications on the
extended memory?

After reserching alittle further this review

http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/m505-palmvx-comparison-review.html

And stating on the Palm Website:
Palm OS v4.0 loaded on the Palm m500/m505 enables copying of Palm OS applications to and from Secure Digital (SD) and MultiMedia cards usind the Copy command from the drop down menu in the Applications view, or by the command stroke /C.

Palm OS v4.0 also enables running of applications stored on expansion cards with a single tap. In the applications view, pull down the picklist and choose Expansion Card to view installed applications.

So I suppose I answered my own question!
However I will still like to hear what success or problems
you have encounted running apps of the SD Card

Should I purchase or is anyone switching over Pocket PC

Thanks Again

[djmangen]

Your last question first: PPC might be good for you IF you need more of a miniature computer running windows, and you're willing to sacrifice battery life. If your main purpose is personal information management, coupled with some word processing, etc., then my opinion is that the Palm is the way to go. (And I do a considerable amount of word processing with Wordsmith.)

Regarding running apps from the card - yes, this can work quite well. There still are some hiccups with a few conduits. For example, if I word process a document and store it on the card, it won't automatically sync to the desktop. I have to copy it over to the main memory and then sync.

Remember too that even though you can store an app on the card and run it from there, you need to have sufficient memory on the main Palm memory to run it. In this respect, SD/MMC is more like a disk drive than true ram memory -- in essence a RAM disk

There are also a number of utilities that are quite useful if you're going to use SD/MMC for running programs. PiDirect, for example, will allow you to see the applications stored on the SD card from the main launcher screen. Another useful utility is Filez, which you can use for copying and moving files around between the card and the primary Palm.

For me, battery life is quite important, so I am sticking with the Palm for now.

[BobG]

Djmangen answered your questions correctly. The cards are only for storage; applications still need to run on main memory in the Palm.

Bob

[DrMud]

Let me put a little Mud in the water.
The card is for storage. Correct!
The card can be used to store applications such as a dictionary program or Palm reader. Right!
Using an application such as PiDirect you can have an application that is located on the card, launch and run. Parts of that app will be moved to RAM but not all. For example: lets say you have only 1.0mb of free Ram on the 505 and you have PiDirect and want to run the Palm Reader to view "Moby Dick". PiDirect will launch Palm Reader into RAM but not the text file of MobyDick. You get to read without having all your free RAM used.
Two important pieces of the Puzzle:
1). Applications that reside on the Memory Card will not be updated during a HotSync.
2). Conflicts can occur when making changes to a data file that is located on the card.
I have used PiDirect for more than 18 months with great results. I do keep database files used with HanDBase on the card and make changes without any problems. Just remember that you will have few problems if you keep about 2mb free RAM on your Palm at all times.
DrMud